Basin and Saddleback A2A+

I will bring my bicycle this time in case we can't park in the Garden Parking lot. This will make it much easier to coordinate drop off and pick up.

From "the Garden" trailhead, we will take the Phelps Trail 3.5 miles into the Johns Brook Lodge area. From Johns Brook Lodge. Take the Phelps Trail (yellow blazes) towards Mt. Marcy. The trail is generally level at first and has some subtle elevation gains over the first 1.5 miles or so. At this point, you will reach an area known as Bushnell Falls. There is a trail junction at this point. We will immediately cross over Johns Brook and notice that your trail markers are now RED . The next 1.8 miles or so will alternate between moderate grades, level hiking and even some short descents until we reach Slant Rock. We will go .2 miles to the trail Junction with the Shorey Short Cut.

The next mile will bring you over to the Range Trail.At the Range trail, bear to left to head to the summit of Basin. This section is very steep and much is over bare rock. About 10-15 minutes into the ascent, we will reach a tall ladder to assist you up a 20-foot section of rock that leads to tricky 100-foot rock scramble. At this point the trail will level out somewhat as you now are on the upper mountain. Follow the markers up to the bare rock summit of Basin. From the summit of Basin, follow the trail (cairns) around the north side of the summit and then off the east side. After descending steeply for a bit, the trail will level out and then climb up onto a knob that sits on Basin's east shoulder. After a level .1 mile or so along the top of the knob we'll reach the final descent into the Basin-Saddleback col. Beyond the col, the ascent itself begins right away and gets pretty steep before long. At first, you're ascending in the tree line but after 10 minutes or so of steady climbing, you'll reach the base of large rock. The next 100 vertical feet is a rock climb. Make sure to spot the yellow blazes on the rock in order to correctly make your way up the rock wall. This part is not hiking so much as non-technical rock climbing. It's mostly a matter of finding a hand hold and pulling yourself up to the next hand hold, and so on. The summit of Saddleback is reached at the top of this pitch.

From the summit of saddleback, we will traverse over both humps of the saddle and then descent into the Saddleback-Gothics col. In the col you will reach the junction with the Orebed Trail. Go left onto the Orebed Trail and descend steeply down to Johns Brook Lodge. From the Lodge, take a right onto the Phelps Trail and head out to The Garden Parking lot.